destinystrings | so many places that I've been, there's so much more to see;

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so many places that I've been, there's so much more to see;

Who: Naoya and open.
Where: Cancer Ward, Virgo Ward, Sagittarius Ward
Summary: Work, chores, battle. The routine of many in Hinoto-Ri. Naoya's starting to get sick of it, though.
Warnings: None yet?

[Cancer Ward - Morning]

[Naoya looks a bit frazzled as he makes his way down the streets of the electronics ward. He doesnt want to go to work. He hates these people - they're stupid and shouldn't even be trusted with a computer. Then they come crying to him to fix their things. The only reason he's even doing this anymore is to save up to buy more components for his computer.]

[He still has time before he has to go in. Mabye he'll find someone while he's browsing parts shops?]

[Virgo Ward - Afternoon]

[And the other reason he's been saving up. He buys some more ammo from the counter in the supermarket, and turns to browse the shelves for more things to buy for food. He's already got pancake mix and powdered sugar in his cart, and he heads into the dairy aisle to look for butter and milk.]

[Sweet-tooth breakfasts are serious business, okay.]

[Sagittarius Ward - 13th Hour]

[He knows he needs to train up Coyote more. Which is why Naoya has him out as they prowl down the streets together. The weaker monsters that cross their path are set upon by Coyote, and Naoya shoots a few himself. The loot disappears into his pockets, and he doesn't really look too concerned.]

[Hopefully he'll find a better challenge soon, whether it be a bigger monsters or maybe another Visitor. He's not opposed to unofficial duels, after all.]

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*Just quiet while Naoya starts to, and then decides against explaining.*

*But as for the clans? Well, that's easy.*

There are six. Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon, and Melchiah each have-- I'm sorry, had clans. And those six were sired in that order, too; Raziel was the strongest of them, and Melchiah the weakest, with all of their clans likewise following suit... individual variance aside.

*....he surely means himself. He's clearly under no illusions as to his own power, or apparent lack thereof, the way he keeps polishing the back of his nail like that.*

I think there's pictures of each of them in there, if you'd like me to point them out? *He indicates the sketchbook there on the table in front of Naoya, subtly... he's talking about those things that mostly look like mutant animals of some kind, really?*

Please.

[... Right. He'll ask about that 'was' in a minute.]

*A nod... and he flips the book back a couple pages, pointing out one of the Turelim vampires. He made sure to mention their superior hearing, and how they were the only other clan confirmed to still have human levels of intelligence. Then an image of the Dumahim, ogre-like, with massive maws and extendible tongues, covered in a natural armor plating, and Rahabim, humanoid monsters which seemed somewhere between frogs, cobras, and sharks all at once, noting that they were the one clan not only immune to, but dependent on, water, and that they were able to spit it with great force, enough to knock a human in full armor off their feet at sometimes quite long distances. Thankfully, that clan could never tolerate any amount of sun, and even electric lights were an irritant to them. The Zephonim were spindly and spiderlike, climbed everything, spit a substance which hardened after a moment, like sort of a webbing or something, and were finally nearly extinct, but the Melchahim were still everywhere, only half immortal, their bodies rotting instead of being sustained by whatever it was that made vampires live so long.*

They burrow... we don't know how they manage, let alone so quickly; one would think their decayed hands would break rather than part the earth so swiftly for them, but they do it all the same. So it's quite difficult for our hunters to see them from the air, unless they've surfaced. Or unless they smell them.

*making a little bit of a face at that particular thought* Some of those the hunters have brought back for training practice are... utterly rancid. I feel quite sorry for them, honestly. It must be painful, living like that, with their healing ability so compromised.

*So that's +6 types of vampires for Naoya's database so far....*

[Taking notes, taking notes...]

Why did you say they 'had' clans? Did something happen recently?

Well... it depends on what you mean by recently. About five or six centuries back, they were all killed. Raziel... he....

*a slight pause, hesitant to say, but he looks down, going back to polishing his nails by rubbing them again,* ...he came back, briefly, as a wraith, and killed them all. He missed Turel, but there's no chance of any of the others coming back.

*He's tucked his wings in more tightly to his back, by this point. It didn't look as though he were very comfortable, honestly; his efforts to control and conceal his body language made it easy enough to tell that much.*

Even before that, their clans had mostly been getting away from them. The more generations removed one is from the original clan Sire, the greater the mental deterioration. It's why the other clans, Turel's aside, are all mere beasts now.

[~~Were the fourth wall gone there would be a Vampire: the Masquerade joke here. Sadly the fourth wall is here.~~]

[Naoya nods, writing this information down as well.]

And your clan doesn't suffer from this?

*A head-shake.* My brothers and I were all sired by Raziel directly, and we add more to our ranks together. They're... in human terms, his grandchildren. Two generations is hardly enough for this to manifest; the suspicion is that it takes closer to a hundred. Perhaps several hundred. We don't know, and we're not about to experiment to find out.

((Not very familiar with V:tM here. What would the joke be? :) ))

[~~Vampires get weaker the further in generation they are from Cain.~~]

Hm. Is Raziel very old, then? ... Or is your clan very young?

((oh, lol, that? Yeah, it was one of the few things I could think of to explain the diffs in some of the clans in SR1, hah.))

*He hesitates, closing his mouth while he tries to figure out how to answer that.*

Not... quite.

*A small sigh to himself, frowning a little... and then leans back in the chair, pinning his wings between its back and his own*

It's more that we were living somewhere that remained entirely hostile to us for a long time. It was only relatively recently that we began rebuilding our numbers. We're the old ones, I suppose; Raziel was executed a long time ago. About... ten thousand years ago, now? Almost eleven? *He must've gotten over it ages ago; he doesn't look particularly broken up about it.*

[He opens his mouth, and then closes it. Now isn't the time for history. That can be later.]

... I see. That brings up more questions, but another time, I think.

Your bodies must be extremely resilient, then. To cellular degeneration and environmental factors... heh. That's useful.

To... what? *Those terms are sailing right over his head, sorry, Naoya!*

*...but he tries making sense of the comments anyway.* Well... no, not really. We simply find ways around such things, when we can. We adapt. We wash with sand instead of water, and seal our wings with oils. Things like that. Most of the perceived resilience is simply our healing ability at work.

Do you age at all?

[Because if not... okay, he doesn't have the lab space for genetic experimentation, but it's still a thought.]

*His wings sink at that and he looks down, once again deliberately keeping his expression neutral.* No... would you believe I was twenty two when I died as a human? ....Over ten thousand years ago?

*The first part... well, he might be able to pass, but it would be easier to tell if he was human-colored and didn't look like he was wearing makeup. He kinda looks a bit younger than that. The second part... who knows? Maybe Naoya can find a lab somewhere to look into it?*

... I thought not. Essentially, your body has parts of the... things that make you who you are... that degrade with age. But with the way you regenerate, it must regenerate that part, too.

Mm... *a little nod* One of my brothers, the one who's a doctor... he said he was about certain that it was our healing ability which kept us from getting any older. But if it's a matter of aging being counted as something to be healed and... regenerated... then why don't we end up looking younger over time?

*He was about to say something else, but pauses and looks up at Naoya quickly* Not that I would want to! I don't! I'd-- I'd rather look older. I--I mean--

*Shutting up now, yes. Closing his mouth, looking back down at his hands, rubbing the top of that nail more firmly, biting the inside of his lip.*

If I had to guess, it would be because your body can't regenerate so many cells at once, or it has a certain 'default' that it returns to.

More likely the latter. I've seen quite a lot of damage heal very swiftly, but I've yet to see anyone look as though they've aged a day since they were turned. ...Change, yes... but not age.

Mmm... I suppose I should mention that the vampires in my world all evolve over time. The clans follow the Sire in form and function, though to a lesser extent, and now... I mean, from the age I've come from... I would go so far as to say we consider each other different species entirely. We may all be vampires, but you see how far apart the clans have drifted. But back when I was still human....

*He reached over to flip through the sketchbook again, pausing to point out one of the pencil drawings in particular, notes on some sort of display room. He indicated the images of some men standing together, all of them quite human... well, mostly, at least, compared to the monstrous-looking things he'd pointed out earlier. The form of their feet and hands were like those of the other vampires pictured. Subtly pointed ears, a similar look to their round faces... surely they were related to each other?*

...That man right there, in the front... was Rahab. That's how he looked, before Raziel was executed. Every so often, vampires go through dormant periods and come back out of them changed. Sometimes it's subtle... other times, we grow wings. *He says it so flatly... while it's obvious he's serious about it, it's hard to tell if he meant to make it sound so funny, or if he's legitimately somewhat annoyed by it. Maybe all of the above?* And then from that point on, until the next changestate, that's how we return to looking, after recovering from injury. It's all but conclusively been proven that the more one feeds, the closer together their changestates come, to a point, and the reverse seems to hold true as well.

I don't know how changestates alter our default form precisely; I'm not a doctor... but... do you think it could be worth looking into it? To see why it is we change over time, and... find a way to stop, or even reverse the process? There's an ongoing joke about perhaps growing beaks or tails next... but... I don't find it funny in the slightest.

((Aha, found a good render! Rahab is on the left, but Avitus didn't draw Turel or Melchiah, which are the green- and gold-lit ones, respectively.))

Edited 2013-06-07 07:45 (UTC)

... Interesting. I'll see what I can find out, though no guarantees.

[Making a note of all of this, yes.]

Thank you... I'd appreciate it. Very much so.

*He seems to've relaxed at that agreement, too, wings sinking a little while he smiles. Could be that that was some source of stress for him.*

What else...? Um.... *he's thinking, but he's so derailed, right now... haha.*

What... ah... things do people know of vampires in your world? *Maybe that would give him a clue of what else to tell about?*

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so many places that I've been, there's so much more to see;

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